Combination anchor and wall packer



May 10, 1955 F. A. REED COMBINATION ANCHOR AND WALL PACKER Filed Dec. 7, 1949 INVENTOR.

; Fan/0Q 7766a ATTORNEYS nite ttes The present invention relates to improvements in combination anchor and packer constructions for well equipment and in particular, to a novel bridge therefor.

One object of the invention is to provide a combination anchor and packer having a slip which is controlled when the tail pipe engages the lower end of the well hole so as to set the slip and operate the packer at predetermined depths Within the well hole depending upon the length of pipe supported below the packer.

Another object is to provide a combination well packer and anchor which may pass through restricted portions of the bore hole without setting the packer until the desired depth has been attained.

Another object is to provide a combination well packer and anchor which is provided with a novel bridge which is effective to move the slips upwardly into their expanded position when the tail pipe has reached the limit of its downward travel and engages the bottom of the well bore.

Another object is to provide a combination well packer and anchor in which the slips may be operated by different tail pipes of various lengths. By substituting tail pipes of various lengths the packer may be set at the desired location with respect to a particular strata.

Another object is to provide a combination well'packer and anchor which may be raised with ease and facility for the purpose of removal.

Basically a packer is a device for the separation of fluids in a well that may be detrimental to one another. The purpose of a packer therefore is to pack off fluids entering one strata and engaging with fluids from another strata. In this particular type of packer it is expanded to engage the base of the well for packing off fluids or gases or cavings from entering the production formation below the packer. The packer is provided with an opening which extends through the packer to provide a passageway for the upward travel of the fluids or gases to the surface.

The packer is dependent upon the weight of the pipe above as a setting factor and for expanding the pack oil element. The packer is provided with a mechanical seat or bridge which is a combination of both the anchor pipe extending from the bottom of the packer to the bottom of the hole, plus the action of the slips engaging the wall of the well. In case the seat should give way, the packer would hold in position by either the anchor resting on the bottom or the slips engaging the wall of the well.

This packer is designed so that a straight upward pulling motion is sufficient to release the conical sleeve from the pack ofi medium and release the slips from the wall of the well. The packer is then free to be removed from the well bore.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description of the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the slip or an- 2,708,001 Patented May 10, 1955 chor mechanism illustrating the slips in their inoperative or retracted position.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view showing the manner in which the anchor or slip assembly is connected to the tail pipe so that when the lower end thereof engages the well bottom the slips will be forced upwardly and expanded and thereby lock the lower end of the packer in place.

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows to illustrate the concentric arrangement showing the manner in which the upper casing member is arranged with respect to the slips and Figure 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and illustrating various structural details of the bridge assembly.

In the drawing, and more in detail, there is shown a combination well packer and anchor including an expansible packer element generally designated 5, a slip assembly generally designated 6 and a bridge construction likewise generally designated 7.

Extending from the packer is a tubing section or sleeve 8 having longitudinally extending diametrically opposite slots 9. The usual rubber packing sleeve 10 of the packer assembly and the lower end of said packer assembly is provided with a tubular wedge or frusto conical-shaped member 11 which may be affixed to the rubber packing sleeve 19 by means of a collar 12.

The lower end of the member 11 is internally threaded as at 13 and receives a correspondingly threaded end 14 of the sleeve 8. The lower threaded end of the sleeve 8 is threaded into an internally threaded socket 15 of the bridge collar 7. The bridge collar 7 is provided with a central opening 16 through which the tail pipe connection 17 extends and in which the said tail pipe is slidably mounted.

The collar 7 is formed with an inner shoulder 18 against which the lower end of the sleeve 8 is positioned, and also a shoulder 19 that is positioned to engage the lower end of an enlargement or collar 20 on the end of the tail pipe connection 17. The upper end of the connection 17 is provided with screws 21 having heads 22 which are positioned in the slots 9 of the sleeve 8.

The heads 22 of the screws also extend outwardly of the sleeve 8 through a collar 23 slidably surrounding the lower part of the sleeve 8 and resting upon the upper end of the collar 7, and the heads of the screws are, therefore, positioned to engage circumfierentially spaced arms 24 extended upwardly from the collar 23.

Mounted on the collar or sleeve 8 is the slip assembly which includes the sleeve 23 and circumferentially spaced arms 24 the upper ends of which have integrated therewith anchor slips 25. The external peripheral surfaces of the anchor slips are serrated as at 26 in a well known manner to frictionally engage the interior surface of the well bore and form an anchor for the packer 5. The slip anchors are formed of 90 degree circular segments and the inner surfaces of the slips adjacent their upper ends are provided with frusto-conically curvedfaces 28 for engaging the frusto-conical wedge 11 and thereby anchoring the packing sleeve 10 when the mutually engaging surfaces of the frusto-conical wedge 11 and frusto-conically curved faces 28 contactually engage.

Also aflixed to the sleeve 23 at circumferentially spaced locations is a series of spring arms 30 which are held in place by rivets or the like 31, and said spring arms are arranged to yieldingly urge the slip anchors 25 towards a common center.

The lower end of the pipe section 17 is threaded for receiving a correspondingly threaded collar 32 and it is intended that different length sections of tail pipe 33 may be secured to the collar 32, so that when the lower end of the tail pipe 33 engages the bottom of the well bore further downward movement of the tail pipe 33 will be prevented and therefore the tail pipe section 17 becomes stationary. The collar 7 and its associated elements will then slide downwardly over the tail pipe section 17 until the bottom edge of the bridge collar 7 strikes the upper edge of the collar 32. The pin 22 engaging in the collar 23 will cause the slip assembly 6 to be moved upwardly and thereby causing the lower end of the member 11 to be forced under the anchor members 25 and thereby expand the anchor members 25 and cause the packer 16 to be expanded outwardly against the wall of the well by the weight of the well string above the packer. The compression therefore of the rubber packing sleeve 10 being caused by the weight of the well string above the sleeve 16. The upper end of the tail pipe 33 is threaded as at 34 for engagement with the corresponding threads of the coupling 32. Hence, various lengths of tail pipe 33 may be substituted one for the other to position the packer at the desired location above the well bottom. When the tube 33 engages the bottom of the Well, downward movement of the tube 33 stops and then the wedge shaped member 11 will force the springs or anchor slips 25 outwardly to engage the side Wall of the well whereby the serrations or teeth 26 will anchor the device to the well.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

What I claim is:

A combination well packer and anchor comprising a mandrel, an expansible packer sleeve on said mandrel, a frusto-conical wedge member mounted on said mandrel beneath said packer sleeve, said mandrel extending below said wedge member and being provided with a threaded lower end, a bridge collar having a correspondingly threaded bore secured to the threaded end of said mandrel, a tail pipe slidably mounted in said bridge collar, 2. second collar surrounding said mandrel above said bridge collar, a series of spring arms on said second collar for frictionally engaging the bore wall, means carried by the upper end of the tail pipe and extending through diametrical slots in the mandrel and fixedly attached to said second collar for locking said second collar to the tail pipe and a slip assembly carried by said second collar having slip anchors adapted to move into engagement with the casing when the tail pipe engages the bottom of a bore hole so that the mutually engaging conical surfaces of the slip assembly and said frusto-conical wedge will lock the slip assembly in the bore hole and permit the weight of the casing string above the expansible packing to force the same into contactual engagement with the well bore.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 625,648 Darling May 23, 1899 793,415 Callanan June 27, 1905 925,906 Heeter et al June 22, 1909 1,804,818 Spang May 12, 1931 2,216,358 Spencer Oct. 1, l940 2.333348 Tucker Nov. 2, 1943 

